God Is A Comedian
by Madison Dyann
Summary: Meet the Donnelly family. Jimmy, Tommy, Kevin, Sean and Allison.
1. The Donnellys

The wind blew through my hair as I stepped off the curb to cross the empty street. I looked up at the once blue sky. Yesterday it was blue but today it was gray due to the clouds. I slowly pulled the heavy door open to my brother bar, The Firecracker Lounge. My oldest brother, Jimmy, won the bar in a crab game with Donny Mache a year early. It came with rotting floors and a gigantic tax lean. But Mache swore he didn't lose on purpose. There was always something going on there. Today it was wake for some distant relative of ours, the Donnelly's.

I pushed my way through the crowd of people I barely knew and rarely saw. Many of them greeted me as if I was there lifelong friend. I said hello then continued on my way though the crowd. I patted my other brother, Kevin, on the back as I passed him. He turned around and smiled. "It's about time you got here, Allie. I was starting to think you were bailing on us." Kevin was the closest to me in age. I was born three hundred and sixty days after him, so for a whole five days, we are the same age.

"C'mon Kev. I would never leave you guys to go through this awful ordeal alone." I said with a small hint of always thought of himself as a gambler. He always believed he was lucky. The fact that he never won a bet in his life some how never dissuaded him from this notion. "Have you told Tommy yet?" I asked lowering my voice. Kevin just nodded in the direction behind me.

Tommy was the second oldest of my four brothers. Tommy was good at two things. Drawing and getting his brothers and, on occasion, me out of trouble. He was the responsible one in the family. But what Tommy didn't seem to understand was that he'd never go anywhere with the first if he couldn't let go of the second. Tommy was sitting at a table by the wall. His brown eyes had a mixture of emotions in them. Confusion. Anger. And I could see a small amount of humor. But eyes did tell me what I wanted to know. Kevin had finally told Tommy about how he lost a bunch of money gambling. Kevin walked over to the table carrying two glasses of beer. I watched as Tommy instantly started to lecture him. Kevin flashed me a look that told he wasn't really listening to anything Tommy was saying.

I leaned against the bar and scanned the crowd before me. I saw my other brother, Sean, talking to girl by the door. Sean was almost two years younger than and in his last year of high school. Everybody loved Sean. Especially women. Which is why my brothers never let their girlfriends anywhere never him. I looked down farther into the bar. I saw Jenny Riley in the back of the bar, by the pool table. Now Jenny, Tommy's childhood sweetheart, married a school teacher a couple of years before. The teacher forgets to mention that he robs drug dealers to pay off some student loans. He goes into hiding and someone stuffs him into an oil drum. No one had the heart to tell Jenny.

"Hey, Allie." Jimmy said, interrupting my people watching. I turned around to face Jimmy, who was working behind the bar.

"Yea?' I asked.

"Get over here and help me out." Jimmy said as he set a glass of beer down on the bar in front of a customer. Even though I wasn't legally allowed to, Jimmy let me work behind the bar. I enjoyed it as long as I didn't get yelled at my some picky customer. I walked around the bar and helped Jimmy. A few minutes later, Tommy walked over and started talking to Jimmy in whispers. I gave them their space. If Tommy wanted me to know, he would tell me. I discovered that it is always easier to let the person tell you in time, than to eavesdrop.

"Hey! No banging on the machines." Jimmy yelled across the bar at Joey Ice Cream, who had kicked the jukebox multiple times. Joey Ice Cream was kind of a friend of the family. He was always tagging along with one of us but him Kevin were really tight.

"It took my money!" Joey yelled back.

"It's supposed to take your money!" Jimmy yelled again.

"You wanna yell in other ear?" An older man said. He was sitting on the stool directly in front of Jimmy. Jimmy and the old man started arguing. I slowly backed away, awaiting the Irish have always been victims of negative stereotypes. I mean people think we're all drunks and brawlers and sometimes it makes you so mad all you wanna do is get drunk and punch somebody.

After a few seconds it happened. Jimmy punched the man in the face and climbed over the bar to hit him again. As always, once one guy throws a punch, all the guys have to join in. I watched from afar as my brothers, including Tommy, joined the fight. A few minutes later, a voice of an unknown person shouted, "Cops! Cops!" Everyone ran for the front door, while I followed my brothers out the back way and into the ally.


	2. Joy Ride

I wasn't sure how going out the back way would save us from the cops until I saw what was in the ally. A large white truck with 'Levine Instructive' written in blue ink was printed on the side. Jimmy banged on the side of the truck, "C'mon. Pile in." Following Sean and Kevin, I ran around to the front of the truck.

I was about to slide in next to Sean when I heard Tommy say, "What's this? The truck you didn't steal!" Tommy practically ignored the truck and continued to walk towards the mouth of the ally.

"C'mon, Tommy. Lighten up!" Jimmy said, holding the driver's door open. There was an almost begging look on his face.

"Everyone get out of the truck. The cops are here." Tommy said. I noticed that his statement seemed to be mainly focused towards man in the Donnellys family at least some kind of run in with the cops. Every member of my family, even my mother, had spent a night, or two, in jail. All except me. And Tommy seemed determined to keep it that way.

"C'mon. You know Jimmy can't drive." Kevin said from inside the truck. Actually, none of us but Tommy had a legal drivers' license. But that never stopped my brothers.

"Neither can you. Get out of the truck!" Just then a New York Police Department car pulled up and parked, blocking the exit of the ally. Tommy quickly turned around and walked back to the truck. "Son of a bitch. Get back in the truck." I finally sat down next to Sean and closed the door.

Thankfully, the cab of the truck was large enough for all five to fit in. Once we were all in the truck, Tommy started it while Jimmy picked up a shirt. The shirt had a mixture of orange flowers and green leaves printed on it. The kind you see tourist in Florida wear. Not that I had ever been to Florida. My brothers and I had never been out of the state of New York. "Hey, Tommy. Do you like this shirt?' Jimmy asked with laughter.

Tommy looked at him with confusion on his face. "Did you just ask me if I like that shirt?" Tommy said as if the answer should be obvious. The shirt was pretty ugly.

"Yea, because I got a couple thousand more in the back." Jimmy said before he erupted with laughter. He then slide the stolen shirt on over the one he currently had on. Tommy put the truck in gear and pressed on the gas. Tommy could drive anything. Before he became Mother Teresa he had a big time thing for joy riding.

Tommy stopped the truck at the end of the ally. Annoyance was clearly visible on his face as he sat in silence waiting on the cops to move. We all sat in silence with him. After thirty seconds of waiting in silence, Tommy leaned out the window. "Hey! Hey! You wanna move!" He yelled down at the officers in the cop car. Their only response was a indifferent look before they pulled forward, out of the way. We all waited until we were out of the ally and away from the cops before we started laughing. Tommy even laughed a little.

After we had finished laughing, Jimmy directed Tommy to a retail shop. Jimmy had Tommy parked the truck in the ally similar to the one we had just left.. As we all piled out of the truck, a man came out from inside the shop. Kevin unlocked the sliding door to the truck and pulled it open. There should have a ton of boxes carrying the ugly shirts. But inside there was nothing. There was absolutely nothing in the back of the truck. Apparently, while Jimmy was in the bar someone stole the stolen shirts.

Jimmy swore a few times before we left the truck were it was and walked away. Kevin was the first to break the awkward silence that had surround us. "Anybody know how I can get four thousand dollars?" His voice was full of desperation. So that's why Jimmy stole the truck; to pay off Kevin's gambling debt.

Sean spoke as if a light bulb had switched on in his mind. "Did you what Bobby O. and J. J. McGain did? They stole an Italian. Held him for ransom." A small smile appeared on Sean's face. Little did I know that this statement would change all our lives forever. And not exactly for the better.

"And where are Bobby and J. J. now?" Tommy asked.

Sean was silent for a moment as he thought. "I don't know. Attica, I think."

"Right." Tommy said, hoping that Sean's answer was enough to push the option out of their minds. "I'll see you guys later." With that, he crossed the street and disappeared. Jimmy and Kevin walked in front of Sean and I. The two were talking quietly together. That's when I noticed a clock in one of the restaurants we passed. According to the clock it was 2:07. I had to be at work at three. I said goodbye to my brothers, who appeared to be happy to get rid of me, and headed home to get ready for work.


	3. Chase

I worked at a small restaurant on 57th street. The pay wasn't that good but it gave something else to do besides hang out at the bar all the time. And it was nice to have my own money. That night I got off of work later than usual. I decided to be nice and cover another waiter's shift. It was well pass eleven o'clock when I finally clocked out.

I had just set out for home when a black car pulled up along side of me. Any other part of New York City, the black shiny Cadillac would have been inconspicuous but not in Hell's Kitchen. In my neighborhood, it was symbol of power. Instantly I got a bad feeling. I didn't stop walking and I forced myself not to look at the car. I didn't look until the passenger side window rolled down to reveal Nicky Carrillo.

Now, I only ever saw Nicky Carrillo once before, a few years ago. But he looked the same. Same dark black hair, which was combed back, and the same sharp brown eyes and permanent smirk. I've heard many of my friends comment on his good looks but they were unable to distracted me from the malice written on his face.

"Shit." I said before I turned around and ran the other way.

I heard a car door open and then slam close. I heard the tires screech as the car made a quick U-turn. But I kept running, not daring to look behind me.

I ran down an alleyway but before I go much farther, the black car blocked the exit. I finally dared to look behind me. Nicky had just entered the ally. I didn't have much time to think. There was a fire escape on the side of a building so I started to climb. When I was on the third level, I reached for the ladder leading to the fourth but it was rusted stuck. It wouldn't come down, no matter how hard I pulled on it. Running out of ideas, I waited until Nicky was more than half way up the third ladder, then I proceeded to jumped over the side.

The fall would have broken my legs if I hadn't hit a pair of trash cans first. Slightly dazed, I got up and ran back down the ally. I took a right. I saw the Queensboro Bridge that crossed the East river. Beneath it was a large trade barge which had multiple different colored crates on it. I got another, very crazy idea.

I probably wouldn't have done it if the car hadn't come speeding around the corner. I ran for the bridge. I hadn't ran this much since high school and I was already out of breath by the time I reached the bridge. I hopped up on the edge of the bridge and looked for a safe place to land on the ship. I saw a blue tarp that looked like nothing was under it. I jumped aiming for what I hoped was a safe place.

It seemed to take me forever to hit the tarp. When I did, the tarp softened my landing so I didn't break my legs but it still hurt. I looked up at the bridge. Nicky and his driver were looking over the edge of the bridge but instead of the barge, they were looking in the water. After a few minutes they gave up and left.

As the ship passed a small dock, I jumped off the edge and swam through the polluted East River to a small dock. Wet and freezing, I slowly walked to the bar. I couldn't go home like this. Twenty minutes later, when I entered the bar, my body was no longer cold. But that was because I was numb. Inside, in the warmth, were all my brothers.

"What the hell happen to you?" asked Jimmy who was the first one to see me from his position behind the bar.

"Nicky Carrillo happened." I replied. My teeth shook a little. I stumbled a little while trying to kick off soaked shoes.

"Kevin, go get some towels. Hurry." Tommy said in a very paternal tone.

I hadn't noticed that I was shriving very violently until now. Tommy helped me remove my wet clothes and then wrapped me in a towel and a blanket. Once I was comfortable, I told my brothers what happened.

"You jumped off the Queensboro Bridge? Are you crazy?" asked Kevin.

"What was I supposed to do? Let them catch me?" I replied, slightly pissed off. I wasn't really in the mood to be yelled at. "Why the hell were they chasing me anyways?" There all looked at each other with skeptical looks. "Oh, God. What did you do?" I asked to no one in particular.

No one seemed willing to answer. "Jesus. We kidnapped Louie Downtown and we're holding him for ransom." Jimmy blurted out.

Now there's two things that happened to my brother, Jimmy, that made turn out the way he did. The first thing, do you know what a half moon ride is? It came around every summer. It was like an instant block party. I was sitting on the sidewalk playing with chalk as my twelve year old brother, Jimmy, ran pass me. Joey Ice Cream was close behind. Jimmy was carrying a giant bucket of what appeared to be vanilla ice cream. "Just give me some ice cream." Joey demanded as he continued to chase Jimmy down the street.

"But there's hardly any left." replied Jimmy, why throwing a handful of ice cream into his mouth.

"There's five gallons." Joey yelled before he tackled Jimmy to the ground. Jimmy lost his grip on the bucket and it rolled into the middle of the street. Before Joey could reach it, three other kids got to it first. "Hey! I stole that!" Joey yelled, as he sat, defeated, in the middle of the street.

No one even heard it coming. A black car pulled onto the street full of people. I stood up slowly as I watched Joey just sit there, watching the car move closer towards him. At the last second, the car swerved towards Jimmy, who was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk. One of his legs just shattered. It never seemed to grow much after that. And they never found the driver. It never seemed to slow him down much, through. It was like he didn't even notice. It seemed like the only time he did notice was when someone pointed it out and Jimmy didn't take kindly to being called a 'cripple'. But it did change his life. But not in the way you think and not for a long time.

Now, from what I heard, the bookie that Kevin owed the money to was named Louie Downtown. Louie ran the book for Sal Minetta, the head of the Italian mob. Sal and his right hand Nicky Carrillo would drop by once a week to keep Louie, honest but they weren't there when my brothers stopped by. Since Kevin was short he had to tell Louie that he need more time. So Sean borrowed a friends cab while the friends wasn't looking and they brought Jimmy along in case Louie didn't take the news to well.

Did I tell you the second thing you have to know to understand Jimmy? Our father worker for the steel workers' union, which was run by the Irish. Now some Italians were trying to change that. One day, Jimmy was in the car listening to music when two guys asked him where is father was.

"He's in the coffee shop." Jimmy said, barely looking up.

It wasn't his fault. He didn't know. But while he was listening to music, they were beating his father to death. He never saw their faces before or after but he knew one thing. They were Italian. And that's what Louie Downtown was. Italian.

I was about to respond when Tommy interrupted me. "Never mind that. But until this thing is over with, Allie, you go no where with out one of us. Got it?" Tommy ordered.

"Yea, I got it." I replied feeling very annoyed. I didn't like having to be babysat by my brothers.


	4. Pain

The next day I was at Jenny's dad's diner eating with Tommy. I found it easy to stay with one of my brothers seeing how I was always with them anyway. I just disliked being told to stay with them. I had just finished eating when Frankie walked in. Detective Frank Stein was a long time friend of the family who just happened to be a cop. "Hey," Frankie said as he sat down by Tommy. "I talked to my detective friend and they have a witness for this truck thing. He wants to put Jimmy in a line up. The thing is the witness said that Jimmy had a gun. This was armed robbery, Tommy. And I thing Kevin and Sean were with him." Frankie said, his voice full of concern.

"Why do you think that?" asked Tommy as I turned away and pretended not to listen.

"There were three of them. It doesn't take a genius. Now look Tommy, your father was a good man and because of that I'm doing all I can here. But Jimmy's out of control. I think you should get him some help. Before he takes your other brothers down with him."

"I appreciate it Frankie. Thanks." said Tommy and Frankie left the diner without another word. "Come on, Allie. Let's go." Tommy said as soon as Frankie disappeared around the corner.

Darkness had fallen by the time we reached the bar. Tommy and I opened the unlocked door to find Jimmy laying on the pool table, asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand.

"Well, that's a fire hazard." I said as I took a seat on one of the old black stools by the bar.

Tommy woke Jimmy up by tapping him on the leg. "Uh. Oh hey, Tommy." Jimmy said as he sat up. He blinked a few times for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting in the bar and then proceeded to throw his cigarette to floor when it came in contact with his finger.

Jimmy impatiently put his hands on his hips. "We've gotta talk." He said to a still dazed Jimmy.

"What time is it?" Jimmy said looking around for a clock.

"It's 11:30." Tommy said looking at the clock above the bar.

This woke Jimmy up. "Ah, shit. I gotta be at the drop at twelve. Just give me a minute, Tommy." He said before disappearing into the bathroom.

Tommy just stood there while I messed with the television. A few minutes passed, still Jimmy didn't come out. Tommy finally decided opened the door. I couldn't see Jimmy from where I was sitting so I didn't fully understand why Tommy got so upset.

"Get out of here, Tommy."

"What are you doing?" demanded Tommy. I heard Tommy slap Jimmy's arm and something fall to the floor.

"Damn it, Tommy. That needle was in my arm."

Tommy pulled Jimmy out of the bathroom and threw him the floor. They then started to throw punches and lunge at each other.

"Guys, what the hell? Stop it! Stop it, the both of you!" I yelled, trying to pull them apart.

Kevin came running up from the basement and helped me pull them off of each other. Once they were a part, Tommy said, "Get out! Get your money and get out of here. If you try to take Allie, Kevin or Sean with you, I'll kill you."

"You'll kill me?" Jimmy said before he darted at Tommy, but Kevin caught him before he could do anything.

"If you had that much pain, Jimmy, why don't just jump off of a roof." Tommy said. He then pulled me with him and we walked out the bar. Tommy walked me home but he didn't go up with me. When I asked where he was going he just said that he need to go blow off some stream.

I hadn't even reached our floor when I ran into Sean. "Where are you going?" I asked, wondering if I could tag alone, instead of being confined to the house.

"We're out of ice cream. You can come along if you pay." Sean said jokingly. While I tried to act my age around my older brothers, Sean was the only I could actually act childish with. We've been known to spend an entire night eating junk food and prank calling people.

Unfortunately, we never made it to the ice cream shop which was five blocks south of our apartments. A block away, a familiar black car pulled up. I immediately got deja vu. The passenger window rolled down to once again reveal Nicky Carrillo. "Hey, Sean. You're Sean Donnelly, right?" Nicky said sarcastically as he addressed Sean who was closest to the car.

"Run, Sean!" I yelled as I took off with Sean not far behind. The driver slammed on the gas and followed us. Sean wasn't as fast as me and he was starting to fall behind. Unaware of just how far behind he was, I blindly ran to the next block. When I was safe from any oncoming cars, I glanced over shoulder to see where Sean was. I watched, in shocked horror, as the car quickly turned the corner, blocking Sean's path. With fluid like movement, Nicky and his partner, who was now wielding a wooden baseball bat, exited the car. The first hit awoke me from my passiveness.

I ran back towards the car and my younger brother. I had never been in a fight in my life and had no weapons but my feet never hesitated as I forced myself to run quicker. Nicky was the first one I encountered and his back was to me as his foot again collided with Sean's face. I jumped on his back, desperate to prevent him hurting Sean again. But Nicky easily threw me off. My head bounced off the sidewalk slightly, blurring my vision for a second.

When I regained focus, I kicked out with my right leg, hitting the guy with the bat, in mid-swing, in the back of the knee. This caused him to take his attention off Sean and onto me. Forgetting his bat, he punched me in the face causing my nose to give a loud crack. The adrenalin of the situation kept the pain at bay but I could taste blood in my mouth. Then there was a hard pull on my hair, lifting me off the ground. I whirled my arms and legs around violently, trying to loosen Nicky's grip on me.

But when a strong arm wrapped around my waist and another forced my own arm behind my back, I gave up my physical attack. I started screaming; my voiced shook as I yelled for help. But that didn't last long either for Nicky quickly placed his hand over my mouth. I closed my eyes as tears started to stream down my face for I was unable to bare witnessing my brother's attack any longer. I was practically using Nicky for support to stand. Just when I thought they were going to kill him, Nicky released me and I collapsed to the ground next to my now unconscious brother.

Upon hearing the car speed away and seeing the amount of blood that covered the sidewalk, I resumed my frantic screaming. I cradle Sean's bruised and bloody head in my lap as I continued my incoherent yelling. The tears started to flow faster and stronger and it seemed like forever before my screams for help were answered.

I heard Tommy yelling, but the sound of help never registered in my mind. "Allie! Sean! Kevin go call the cops! Go!" I watched, without really seeing, as Kevin ran to the nearest pay phone.


	5. Alibi

I stared at the floor as I chewed on my finger nail. I tried hard to keep my mind clear of any negative thoughts about Sean's condition but some how they still found their way in. That made me concentrate harder on the patterns in the ugly brown carpet.

I was sitting next to my mother. She too was staring at the floor. Also in the waiting room was Kevin, Joey Ice Cream, and Jenny. Jimmy was wondering the halls and Tommy was outside talking to Huey Ferrell. I lost track of time. Jenny went to get food. Tommy had to got talk to Huey again. I couldn't stand sitting in the silent room any longer. I got up and walked around.

I couldn't remember the hour between the arrival of the ambulance and a clearance I got from the doctor to leave the hospital. Luckily, when my head hit the sidewalk it only caused a small cut which need no stitches. My nose was broken and the doctors were forced to crack it back into position. With all the bruising I was unable to see the direct cosmetic damage that usually comes with a broken nose. Even though the doctors washed all the blood from my skin, my clothes were still covered in both mine and Sean's blood.

I found Tommy exiting the cafeteria. His eyes gave away what Huey had just told him. They were going to kill Jimmy. By kidnapping Louie Downtown and then demanding a 30,000 dollar ransom, Jimmy had embarrassed the Italians. The attack on Sean was just a warm-up. Now they wanted Jimmy dead.

I could also see Tommy's mind spinning, trying to think up a plan to save his older brother. I knew what he was going to have to do to save Jimmy.

"There are going to think Jimmy did it." I said quietly. Tommy still looked confused. "Jimmy needs a alibi. I real alibi." I almost whispered.

"What did you have in mind?" Tommy asked.

"Call Frankie. Get him to arrest Jimmy for the truck thing. And see if Frankie can get him into rehab. Then do what you gotta do." I just said the words as they appeared in my mind.

Tommy nodded. "Where's Jimmy?"

"He just down to the store across the street." I said, before I went back to the waiting room. A few minutes I saw Tommy leave with Kevin. Tommy had to kill Sal before he killed Jimmy.

Remember I told you about the day that changed Jimmy's life. I was the only one who saw him. The only one who knew it was Tommy driving the car. And to this day, it's the only thing I never told anybody. I'm ashamed to be telling you now. Tommy never stole a car again. Never did anything, he turned his life around. I mean he could've made it out, only he was never going to let his brother get hurt again. And this was the day that changed Jimmy's life forever, because Jimmy was off to rehab. And Tommy...Tommy became everything he never wanted.

I soon fell asleep in the chair in the waiting room. I awoke to my mother telling me that the doctor wanted to talk to us. So I followed her into the small room. I was too sleepy to understand any of the doctors words. The only thing I did see was a blood stain on Kevin jacket. It was small but it was there. Tommy saw me looking at it so after the doctor finished talking, he and Kevin left again.

I wasn't sure how long I was asleep before my mother woke me up again. "Why don't you head home, I'll call it anything happens." Reluctantly I agreed. But before I went home, I went to the bar to look for Kevin and Tommy. The door was unlocked and the lights were off inside the bar.

"Hello." I yelled. Only the silence answered her. "Tommy?" I said as I walked towards the stairs that led down to the basement. Upon reaching the stairs, I saw a thin trail of blood leading up the stairs. "Damn it, Jimmy." I whispered to myself. I walked down the stairs careful not to step in the blood, and walked into the small bathroom. Once I was in there, I found a small plastic bucket, which I filled with bleach and a small amount of water. I found myself a pair a rubber gloves, and started to wash the bloody stairs.

When I was finished with the blood on the stairs I had to wash the blood that was splattered on the wall in the room Louie was held in. I washed the bloody bucket out and put it back where I found. I made a quick trip to the apartment where I took a warm shower and changed into clean, unbloodied clothes. I then returned to the hospital. I found my mother sitting in Sean's room. I handed my mother a cup of coffee as I sat down. "Thanks, honey." She said with a small smile.

"Sure. I couldn't sleep." I lied.

"Any time I watch you guys sleep, I feel like you're still five years old. Does that sound crazy? Always five. You're not babies anymore. But you're not grown either." I wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or to me.

"Do you know what happened last night?" I asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" My mom asked slowly, finally at me.

"You know what I mean." I said sternly.

"I think...that if know someone's good then you know it in your belly. Then you trust them that if they have to do something, they had no other choice." Those were the finals words she said on the subject.


	6. Give And Take

The bright lights and blandness of hospital started to give me a headache so I decided to leave and go back to the bar. Still no one was there, but inside of leaving I decided to play a game of pool. I wasn't exactly sure if it was safe yet for me to wonder the streets again. A few minutes Kevin and Tommy came in. Tommy immediately started to search through the cabinets behind the bar. "Dammit. It's all empty." He said slamming the cabinet shut.

"Yea. Jimmy's really letting the bar slide." Kevin said, not looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

"It's a bar. Aren't we supposed to have more than two beers?" Tommy held up the two remaining beers. Jimmy wasn't exactly the best business. The hours depended on when decided to roll out of bed and whether of not there was any alcohol left from my brother's all night drinking parties.

"Why are you worried about it?" I said from over by the pool table. Tommy always seemed to ignore Jimmy's bad managerial skills.

"We're hosting Huey's wake tonight." Tommy said after a moments pause.

"What?" I missed the eight ball.

"Kate Farrell came by. She wants the wake to be here." Tommy explained.

"Can I remind you that we killed her husband?" Kevin said.

"Shut up, Kevin." Tommy made his way over to the stairs.

"And you said yes to this?" I followed my brothers downstairs.

"She really didn't give me much of a choice. What happen to all the food from the party last week?" Tommy said ignoring Kevin's and mine comments.

"Tommy, when I am going to get a say in things?" Kevin said.

Tommy ignored the question. "There was a ham, meatballs and half a turkey." We went into the storage room where the freezer was. Tommy opened the freezer lid, and then quickly closed it. From the smell that erupted from the white freezer, I guessed the food was rotten. "What the hell is this?" He found the plug to the freezer. "It's unplugged."

"I think Jimmy is using the outlet for his drill. He's building a birdhouse." Kevin pointed to the half way done birdhouse. I couldn't help my giggle a little at the thought of Jimmy building a birdhouse.

"A birdhouse? Beautiful." Tommy said as Jimmy came running down the stairs.

"Where are all my damn guns?" He yelled at Kevin, who was clearly confused at the question and the force Jimmy said it with.

"Why to you need a gun, Jimmy? Did you catch a bird in your birdhouse?" Tommy said.

"At least I can build something. All you can do is screw everything up." Jimmy said during his anger to Tommy.

"You should see what you did to the food, Jimmy." Tommy yelled.

"Why do you need a gun, Jimmy?" I asked as I moved as Jimmy started to throw boxes, looking for his guns.

"Because I gotta kill Dokey. Thanks to our idiot brother, he thinks I killed Huey." Jimmy said eagerly.

"There's a shotgun here somewhere." Kevin started to help Jimmy look.

"Did you talk to Dokey? What did he say?" Tommy asked.

"I had four guns in here!" Jimmy yelled.

"Yea. I got rid of them."

"You what?" Jimmy continued to search.

"I got rid of them." Tommy repeated.

Jimmy laughed. "No guns. Big shot wants to take over the family and he just got us all killed."

"If Dokey really thought you killed his brother you'd be dead. He's asking everybody. He's fishing, Jimmy."

"Yea. With us he catches something." Jimmy said.

"You were in jail. You got an alibi. What do you got to worry about? You just gotta get suited up, go to the funeral, put a rose on Huey's casket and we're gonna get through this day together. Nobody's gonna be suspicious unless we act suspicious." Tommy said.

Jimmy shook his head. "Did you go to school to get that stupid?"

"Yea, your right, Jimmy. Get a gun. Wave it around as Huey's funeral. Wave it around at his wake. That's really gonna make us look innocent."

"I'm beginning to think that the wake is a bad idea, Tommy." Kevin admitted.

"You two idiots aren't actually going to Huey's wake, are you?" Jimmy asked.

"It's here." I said

"You're lying?" Jimmy looked at me as if I was joking.

"Kate asked to throw it here. I said yes." Tommy admitted.

"You gave away my bar...for Huey's wake?"

"We don't have a choice. It's done." Tommy said.

"You wanna play big man, Tommy? Then go ahead. Now you're gonna get out of my way." Tommy moved and Jimmy went back upstairs.

"You leaving too?" Tommy asked Kevin.

"No. I'll help." Kevin said, still unsure if he really wanted too.

"We have no money, no food, and no booze. What are you gonna do Kevin?" I had money, but Tommy always refused to borrow or even ask to borrow any.

"I'll get the booze." Kevin said sternly.

"How?" Tommy questioned.

"Would you give me a little credit, Tommy. You're not the only who can handle things."

"Okay. Get the booze Kevin. Allie, clean this place up." With that, I was left alone in the storage room.


	7. Lies

So while Kevin was out finding alcohol, I cleaned up the bar. The bar was filthy due to the lack of recent care. I washed the dust and grim off of the wooden bar. I cleaned all the tabs and the counter behind the bar. I washed all the tables off and put the chairs in their right spot. I then wiped the dirt off the windows and mopped and swept the titled floor. I cleaned the rather repulsive bathroom and even painted a few spots on the wall that needed to a new coat.

When I was finished at the bar I went home to get dressed for the wake. It took me longer to find something to wear than I thought it would. After going though my closet twice I finally decided on the dark blue dress I wore to a funeral a year ago. I took a quick shower, got dressed, did my make up and hair, then I headed back to the bar. The bruising in my nose had went from a ugly green and black to a more normal blue color. I still couldn't see any permanent damage and it was relativity easy to hide the majority of bruise with make up.

There was already a few people at the bar when I got there. I saw that Tommy had gotten Jenny to help with the food but the alcohol still wasn't present. Then Kevin walked in with Joey Ice Cream carrying three white boxes. I pulled a bottle out and read it as Tommy walked over. "Kosher." I said, confused. Where in the hell did they get Kosher wine?

"Thanks." Tommy said sarcastically.

"It's alcohol and it's free. What more do you want?" Kevin asked as Tommy pulled him outside. I set the boxes of Kosher wine behind the bar. I was hoping that Tommy had went to get something more appropriate to drink because I didn't feel very comfortable with serving the stolen wine.

A few minutes later they re-entered carrying a lot of bottles. "Hey, everybody. We got scotch." Joey yelled loudly to the crowd. I hit Joey for being so obnoxious.

Tommy then leaned over the bar and whispered, "If Dokey asks you anything, you say we were at the hospital all night."

"What's going on?" I asked in the same low tone.

"Dokey's trying to put some things together. Jimmy shooting his mouth off not helping us."

"Okay. You guys were at the hospital all night. I got it." I said. Tommy walked away to be social and not appear guilty. So there I was. At the wake of a man my brothers killed. A wake attended by a man that wanted us all dead. I saw no way of all of us getting out of this ordeal alive.

Since Jimmy wasn't present I was left to run the bar. Joey helped out on occasion, but only if a cute girl was near by. But he ran off when Dokey sat down on the nearest stool. "Hey, Allie." He said, but his eyes were on Tommy, who was talking to Matthew, Huey's young son.

"Anything I can help you with, Dokey?" I asked, even through I already knew what he was going to say.

"Yea, can I talk to you for one second?" He asked, returning his eyes to me. Dokey looked nothing like his older brother. He had none of kind, father-like appearances that Huey had. His tall skinny frame and stern face held no warmth or empathy.

"Yea. Of course. Sorry I couldn't make the service." I apologized.

"That's okay. I wanted to ask you about the night Huey died. Were you at the hospital all night with your mother?"

"Yea."

"You were there when Huey got there?" He asked.

"Yea. He brought a pie into the waiting room." I said, remembering him handing it to Jenny.

Dokey laughed softly. "Did you hear that Huey and Tommy were saying?"

"No. I didn't."

"How long were you there?"

"All night and most of the morning. Then I went home to sleep. But all us, Tommy, Kevin, Jenny were there just waiting to hear about Sean." I explained.

"Kevin and Tommy were there all night?"

"Yea. I doubt my mother would have let anyone leave." I joked.

Dokey laughed with me. "Thank's for your honesty, Allie." Dokey said before he walked away. The minute he left, I finally exhaled. A few minutes later my calmness was shattered when Jimmy walked in with his girlfriend, Jonnie. It was clear that he was already drunk.

"Hey, everybody. Are you enjoying my bar? You're welcome. Hey, Dokey." Jimmy pointed at Dokey, who was sitting in one of the corner booths. "Your brother, man. Bummer. We came to pay our respects. Our condolences." Dokey just continued to smoke his cigarette. Jimmy then stumbled over to the bar and said to me, "Three shots." But inside of Scotch I gave him three shots of the Kosher wine. I doubted that he would notice.

I was watching Joey try to talk a girl into sleeping with him, when the phone rang. I turned around to answer it but Kevin beat me to it. "Firecracker…..uh….I'd…..I mean….Hold on." Jimmy pulled the phone from Kevin's hands. I watched as Kevin walked quickly out the door.

"Who the hell is this?" Jimmy asked as he put the phone to his ear. Tommy walked over as Jimmy hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"That was Dokey."

"He was just here." Tommy said.

"Still is. He's in the basement" Jimmy explained.

"He's calling us from our own basement?" I asked, confused.

"He wants us to join him. Including Allie." Jimmy said with no emotion in his voice.

"Is he out of his mind?" I asked.

"Jenny's down there with him." That seemed to seal the deal.

So I followed my two brothers downstairs. The only thing worse than having someone threaten you is having them threaten the one person you love most. How Dokey knew Jenny was the one for Tommy, I don't know. But he knew. I don't think I've ever seen Tommy look that scared.


	8. Truth

Down in the basement was a very frightened Jenny, a bored looking employee of Dokey's and a calm Dokey, who was sitting on a metal chair. I stood behind Tommy as the man hand Dokey an ax. "What's going on?" Jimmy said, causally.

"Where's your other brother?" Dokey asked, nonchalantly.

"He had to run off." Tommy said.

"That doesn't look good. Does it?" Dokey shifted a little in his seat. It was dark in the basement. The only lift source was a single light bulb placement on the ceiling above Dokey's head.

"He's scared." Tommy explained.

"I guess I could understand that." Dokey said standing up.

Tommy immediately turned towards Jenny. "You should leave. Jimmy take her upstairs."

"No. Allie can take her upstairs." Jimmy stated.

"No. No ones' taking anybody upstairs." Dokey ordered. His tone reached a threatening level.

"Are you going to tell us what we are doing down here?" Jimmy asked.

"Shut up, Jimmy." Dokey took the words right out of my mouth. "You know what's funny. All those people right up there. And we're down here, just a few feet away. Something totally different going on, you know? And they're none the wiser. It's funny how that works. You know, you guys could wind up dead tonight. I just say that I was at a wake. I mean, it's the truth. I got witnesses. You ever found yourself in a situation, Tommy, with your brothers that people could have swore you were there. And yet, you were doing something else."

I knew he was talking about the lie I had told him not an hour ago. I started to think back on it. Was there something more I could have said that would have prevented this incident? Nothing came to mind.

"I need her to leave, Dokey." Tommy said slowly.

"I'm fine right here." Jenny said quickly.

"See, she's good. I know you killed Huey. I don't know how you did it, but you killed him." Dokey said to both Jimmy and Tommy. "You were the last one with him, Tommy. And you, Big Mouth, shooting your mouth off in the bar. How your brothers killed for you. You have a big mouth, Jimmy." Dokey started to pace around the chair. "You know, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I do know one way to get to the truth." Dokey set an empty keg down in front of Jimmy. "Jimmy, would you do me a favor? Put your leg up there."

I was finally shaken out of my silence, "Stop this." I grabbed Tommy's arm; begging him to do something.

"He was in jail the night Huey was killed, Dokey." Tommy said quickly.

"Yea, that's good. I would have thought of that too. Now would you put your leg up there, please." Jimmy laughed quietly and put his leg upon the metal keg. "That's your bum leg, isn't it?" Dokey asked with a grin on his face.

Jimmy laughed. "You better leave me dead, Dokey. Because I'm gonna stick this stump straight down your throat."

"You got it. It's a promise." Dokey said, pointing the ax of Jimmy.

"You wanna know what happen. Do you? I want her out of here." Tommy pointed at Jenny.

"Sure. Take her upstairs." Dokey said to his friend.

"I leave here, I call the police." Jenny quickly said, shaking the man's guiding hand off.

"She's not going to call the police with us down here." Tommy said. "Please. It's okay." Jenny slowly and quietly walked upstairs.

"What about Allie?" Dokey asked, motioning to me, who was still clinging to Tommy's arm.

"She has to stay. She would call the cops." Tommy said through a soft smile.

"Is someone gonna to something because my leg's getting tired." Jimmy said sarcastically.

"Shut your mouth, okay. And you got one chance to tell me the truth." I didn't know how Dokey's voice could get more threatening but it did.

"We called Huey because we screwed up and the Italians were coming after us." Tommy started to explain.

"I'm getting a cramp." Jimmy said as he pulled a gun out from under his jacket and pointed it at Dokey. Practically at the same time, Tommy hit Dokey's friend in the face as he pulled out his own gun. Tommy took it and pointed the gun at him. "Stay down." I pressed myself against the wall, trying to become invisible.

"You pull guns on me?" Dokey said. "You are dead."

" And you acted so friendly." Jimmy laughed.

"You want a gun?" Tommy said as he laid the gun down on the keg.

"Oh, that's real smart, Tommy." Jimmy said with uneasiness.

"No, thanks. I'm cool with my ax, Tommy." Dokey said holding up the long wooden handle ax.

"We need your brother's help because we killed somebody. Okay." Tommy continued to explain.

"You need my brother's help because you killed somebody. You did you kill?" Dokey asked.

"I can't tell you and you don't need to know you." Tommy replied.

"Tommy, don't tell me what I need and don't need, okay?"

"It was someone who wanted Kevin dead. He owned him money and he couldn't pay. It was an accident but that doesn't make him anyless dead. Huey came to the hospital and said he had a connection with Sal and he'd try and help us. That was the last time we saw him." Tommy said.

"So you killed somebody, it just wasn't Huey-"

"He was standing right where you were." Tommy said, cutting Dokey off.

"What'd you do? You'd shoot him?" Dokey started to examine the concrete floor.

"Yea." Tommy muttered.

"Well, shooting makes a mess." Dokey started to look around the bare room for blood strains. There wasn't any because I had cleaned all the blood up. "Earl. Roll over there and put your fingers in that drain, please." Dokey pointed to the small drain in the floor. Earl slowly walked over to the drain, took the small lid off and placed two fingers in the drain. When he removed them, they were covered in blood.

And that's the way life works sometimes. If they hadn't killed Louie Downtown, we would have been dead right then and there. "Put the gun down, Jimmy." Tommy said. Jimmy slowly lowered the gun. "Are we good here, Dokey?"

"Don't you ever point a gun at me again or I will hack you in half." Dokey snapped at Tommy. Dokey and Earl went quickly and quietly back upstairs, followed by the three of us. I quickly went to the bar and took a huge drink of the Kosher wine. It helped stop my hand my shaking. My shock was gone by the time Tommy stood up to say something.

"If I could say something. I wanted to say something about Huey. I…" He voice trailed off while Jenny walked out of the bar with another man. "….I think if you could remember what a person meant to you and hold on to that feeling. I think you can survive a time like this."


	9. Author's Note

*Author's Note*

Hello, hello, hello!

Its been awhile. I've decided to rewrite God Is A Comedian due to the large amount of grammatical mistakes and such. Plus, I feel that I can do better.

The chapters which have actual titles are the ones I have rewritten so far.

Reviews and opinions are greatly welcomed! Thanks!

-Madison Dyann-


	10. Visit

After about a week in, Sean was able to leave the hospital. The doctors said he suffered no brain damage and that the bruising and swelling would disappear in a few weeks. My bruises on my nose were gone and the only evidence of the attack was a small scar on the bridge of my nose. But Sean seemed less than enthusiastic to be leaving the hospital. And that was probably because Mom kept bugging him about going back to school, which was something Sean was not a fan of. So far, all the Donnellys, with the exception of Jimmy who dropped out his junior year, had finished high school. But Tommy was the only one going to college. I could have went to college; I applied and got accepted to NYU which was something I hid from my family. But I knew my family couldn't really afford it and I doubt I would've did well.

But as an older sibling, I felt obligated to encourage Sean to finish high school. So, on the way out of the hospital, I made a small comment on the subject which Sean awarded me with a dirty look. I knew how Sean felt. He knew he wasn't going to college, so why should he spent a year in high school when he could be out doing something more productive. But Mom felt that he would be out doing something illegal. In that case, high school didn't seem to stop him.

Tommy was waiting for us with the Mom's car, she was the only one who owned a car in the family, and Tommy drove while Sean and I sat quietly in the back seat. When we finally reached our apartment building, Mom and Sean went ahead as Tommy and I grabbed the groceries. There was only two bags, so we each grabbed one. I was the last one to head up to the apartment since I dropped the bag and Tommy was too busy laughing to help.

As I walked up the three flights of stairs, I planned my revenge on Tommy for laughing at my random clumsiness. But I came to a sudden halt when I rounded the corner on the third floor. Standing just outside the door of our apartment was a frustrated Tommy and a calm-looking Nicky Carrillo. I appeared to have interrupted a very heated conversation. "Hey, Allison." Nicky said causally with a smile. I could tell that Tommy wanted kill him at that moment.

"Hi, Nicky." I said sarcastically, returning a smile. My response only made Tommy angrier.

"Sorry about the nose." Nicky said, sympathetically. I couldn't tell if the sympathy was fake or not.

"Allison!" Tommy practically yelled, interrupting our conversation. Without another word, I opened the door of our apartment and disappeared behind it.

Not a minute later, Tommy finally opened the door and walked in. I was helping Mom put away the groceries when Tommy pulled me aside. "Allie, I don't want you talking to that man." Tommy said in his usual paternal tone.

"I'm not an idiot, Tommy. I saw what he did to Sean. What did he want anyway?" I said in a whisper so Mom couldn't overhear even though she was completely unaware of us.

"He knows Jimmy kidnapped Louie Downtown. And until Louie turns up, which he's not, Nicky thinks we should pay four thousand dollars a week to cover lost business." They way he said, Tommy sounded like he was still unsure of what to do. So, not only did we still have Dokey on our case but we also had the Italians hanging around.

"And when is this weeks money due?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Midnight tonight. Stay here. Watch Mom." Tommy said before walking back out the door. At the same time, Kevin walked into the kitchen and made a bowl of cereal.

"Kevin, I need to talk to you." I said taping him on the shoulder.

"Wait a minute." Kevin said before shoveling a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"This is important, Kev." I hissed.

My tone briefly broke though his hunger. "You're pregnant, aren't you?" Kevin whispered.

"No!"

"Then you can wait until I'm finished with my cereal." He returned his attention back to his bowl.

"Why? Afraid it might get cold?" I joked.

"No. Soggy." I gave up and took a seat next to my brother. In a whisper, I told Kevin what Tommy told me. "Great! I guess I'm stuck with you guys."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't leave you guys by yourself with him hanging around, can I?" Kevin said sarcastically.


End file.
